Present Your Case
by Jaina Durron
Summary: Han would be lying if he said he'd never dreamed of it before. My gift to equusgirl for the 2019 Han & Leia Secret Santa Exchange


**AN:** For the wonderful and ever patient equusgirl. I am so sorry this took me so long. I wanted to make sure it was special just for you. But you mentioned an excerpt from the Han Solo trilogy of the old EU that has a younger Han dreaming of what he desires from his future. I fell in love with the concept and I just had to run with it. I really hope you like this!

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_"At the far end of his fantasy, Han pictured himself, successful, respected, the best pilot in the galaxy, with a ship of his own, lots of loyal friends, and plenty of credits. And ... a family. Yeah, a family of his own. A beautiful wife who adored him, who'd share adventures with him, and kids, maybe. He'd be a _good _father. He wouldn't abandon his children, the way he'd been abandoned ..._

— The Paradise Snare, A.C. Crispin

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"Okay, so, there will be rhyscate served after the nerf stake. Any other details to the menu you would like to add?"

"Yeah, whatever happened to my spiceloaf?"

Leia lowered the datapad in front of her to flash her fiance an impatient scowl. Han was lounging on the couch in their living room, stretched out to take up each seat. On his face, he wore an expression of feigned hurt, brows drawn together and creased in consternation. "I let you keep the rhyscate! We are not having an all-Corellian menu."

Han smirked, silent laughter on his lips. "What? You afraid of getting sauce on your pretty dress?"

Smirking to herself, Leia flicked her gaze back to the document she was typing on, flicking her finger across the screen. "You haven't seen my dress yet. And you aren't going to see it until our wedding day."

Han groaned as if pained, having taken a blaster bolt to the rib cage.

"Anyway, now that we've finalized the menu, we can finish setting up the tables."

"Sweetheart, over half our guests are politicians, and nothing can make them like each other. Why don't we just stick 'em together at any table and let them deal with each other?"

"Because our marriage is already on the verge of starting a civil war within the New Republic, and we really don't need another reason to piss my coworkers off." It was absurd that her peers thought they had any say in her love life, and the entire debacle was driving Leia up the walls. She thought she had made it clear years ago that Han was an inseparable part of her life, but her peers seemed to view the great countdown to the Solo wedding as a ticking timer for them to change Leia's mind.

Han merely shrugged at Leia's reasoning. "C'mere. We've done enough planning today. Time to relax."

Deciding it wasn't worth the argument, Leia offered no protest and joined him on the living room couch. Han made room for her, edging aside, and wrapped an arm about her waist to prevent her from falling. "I'm sick of all this planning," he grumbled, and his mouth met the back of her neck. Leia shivered. "I just want to marry you."

Leia snuggled into his embrace, pulling Han's arm tighter around her. "You know that I would love to sneak off-planet with you and just elope, but it would be a scandal, and it would only piss off the Provisional Council further. We want to make peace with them, don't we?"

Han grumbled again, a series of odd and exaggerated, throaty sounds that were more amusing than frustrating. Leia giggled. "I know, flyboy. But after the big affair, I believe there's a little trip you're taking me on, isn't that what you said? And we'll be all alone. Away from all the peering eyes."

This time, Han's groan was starving, and Leia flushed. His hands were beginning to wander, slowly and tantalizing, making their way to her belt, untucking her camisole—

Leia's comm beeped from where it rested in her pocket, and she quickly sat up to check it. It was just a transcribed message. Leia acknowledged it and sent the alert away, paying it no more than a second of her attention. She turned back to Han, hands diving straight for the buttons to his uniform. Han let her, quite enjoying the attention, the weight of her in his arms, pressed up against him. Before he could speak, she covered his mouth with hers, entangling their lips, and Han asked her as soon as they broke for air, "What was that?"

"What?"

"Your comm? Mothma better not be calling you back already—"

"No," she shook her head, grinning. "No, it was just a reminder for an appointment." She returned her mouth to its proper place, tugging on his lip between her teeth, but he was quick to pull back. "Appointment?" His pupils had dilated just slightly, glinted with reasonable panic.

Though she didn't find much humor in scaring Han, she was amused to see his conclusions jump so drastically. "Oh, no!" she laughed, taking his face between her hands, her touch gentle, yet firm and reassuring. "No, Han. I'm fine! It's nothing like that. It was just a reminder for my appointment to get my birth control renewed."

Han nodded, his response little more than a grunt as Leia had already returned to the task at hand. She took his hands, pulled them over her waist, melted closer to his body. Though the subtle movement of her hips between his hands was enticing enough, Han gently pushed her away far enough to breathe. "How long?"

"Hm?"

"How long this time? How long do you want it to last? Your contraceptive. Which one you thinking about getting?"

"I don't know. Probably longer than the one Mothma had us take. Why?"

Over the years since the Rebel Alliance's formation, Mon Mothma had fought endlessly to ensure that the Rebellion's women recruits were equipped with all the necessary health care and had overseen the selection of Thyferran medical scientists best-acclaimed birth control. Some other male members of High Command had argued that the Alliance's funds shouldn't be wasted on excessive matters, insisting that relations between any members of the fleet and key ground forces were quite discouraged. To which, Councilor Mothma had so eloquently responded that "Sex happens."

The Rebel leader had gone as far as to require it of all the females under her jurisdiction. Leia was smug enough to boast for her that the requirement had strengthened their military, leaving the Alliance to only possess fighters who were fully committed to the cause. Though, there was no shame in the numbers who opted to join smaller resistance cells in order to raise their own families.

But Leia had never taken the gift for granted and had remained rigorous in keeping up with her renewal appointments.

Beneath her, Han shrugged, trying so hard to portray nonchalance. He wiggled himself into a sitting position, still holding Leia by her hips. "Well, I've just been thinking. We got our own place, now. We're getting married. We haven't talked about kids yet."

"Kids?" Leia almost laughed; not in ridicule at the suggestion, but more in surprise, a fumble to find her own response. "Han, I'm pretty sure I've told you that I don't want kids. At least, none of our own. Besides, we aren't even married yet. Why can't we just enjoy a year or two to ourselves, then we can talk about adoption? If you still think you want kids by then."

"Well, yeah, I guess that's what I'm trying to say, sweetheart. I do want kids."

"I thought you liked it being just the two of us. No distractions, plenty of time to each other." A mischevious glint caught in her eye. "_This,_" she said, running her hands beneath Han's shirt, up his firm stomach and chest. "Anytime we want it. Anywhere in our apartment."

He caught her arms at the elbows, gently drawing her hands out of his shirt. "But I don't love you for sex, Leia."

"Well, of course. That's not what I'm saying, Han. But you're talking about— kids. Kids are a really huge deal, Han. Our entire lives would change."

"Yeah, so, what if I want that?"

She froze, a partly amused smile dancing on her lips. "You. Want kids?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"You, Han Solo, former smuggler and mercenary, took three years to finally sign on with the Rebellion, misses flying and roaming the galaxy in your crappy little freighter and always keeps a bottle of Whyren's Reserve in the cockpit—"

"Who, me?"

"You want kids?"

"Why not?"

"You think you want kids."

"I do."

"Han," Leia laughed. "We've had snippets of this conversation before, just chit-chat. And you never once expressed the most remote desire to be a father."

"I've changed my mind."

"Have you, now?"

"I never wanted to get married. I think I let you know that once or twice. Never wanted to get a real job, never wanted to commit to anything bigger than me. I've changed my mind, Leia. I have changed. You've changed me."

"I've made you want kids?"

"I want to have kids with _you_, Leia. I've never been with someone before who I wanted to have kids _with_—"

"Hang on. Let me make sure I'm understanding you. You want to have kids with a woman who specifically does not want to have kids."

He shrugged. "We make a good team, Lei. Always have. I guess I think we might make a damn good pair if we took on a little one of our own."

Something in Leia's demeanor seemed to calm, the previous fiery simmer in her eyes cooling just as the tension in her shoulders began to ease. She paused, perhaps taken back. "Just how long ago did you decide you wanted this?"

"Longer than you'd believe."

"That's quite a different story from what you used to tell me."

"I gave up on it. Didn't think I'd ever be in a good place to settle down, raise a couple of kids. Started to doubt I'd ever find someone to have them _with_."

She sat back down, gaze falling to her lap; and Han sensed not surrender, but openness. A willingness to listen and consider what he had to say.

"Would you believe that I dream? I've had the same dream since before I finally managed to escape Shrike. Before I lost hope. I wanted to make a good life for myself. I wanted to— to be someone who could have a good life." Han reached out to touch Leia, caress her cheek. "Find a beautiful woman to spend the rest of my life with, treat her right, make her happy." In his touch, he tried to convey all the wild things she made him feel, all the dreams she'd fed him, all the ones he'd given up on and for which Leia had reignited his faith. "I want to have a family, Leia. I want to do everything right that whoever had me didn't do."

"Han." Leia's voice had suddenly turned soft, nearly brittle with emotion, empathy. "You don't need to prove yourself just to prove you're better than your parents."

"That's not why I want to do this! Well, not the main reason. I grew up without a mom, without a dad who taught me stuff like how to play smashball or fly my first ship. Or how to treat a woman and love one."

"You figured that out pretty well for yourself."

Han grinned. "I'm trying. And part of that— I want a kid, Leia. I want to show a kid how to do all that stuff, and I want to be a good influence on them, watch 'em grow up. I don't just want to have kids, Leia. I want to have kids with you, and raise 'em with you, and spoil them with you, and take them on the Falcon and show them how to help with repairs when it's super late and you want them in bed. And give them candy and tell them not to tell Mommy …" He trailed off, caught up in the daydream, the wonderful future he could only imagine having with Leia. But then, he remembered, and Han felt a twinge of guilt as his gaze darted back up to Leia. But she didn't seem angry or upset with him for his tangent and insistence on this dream centered on their children whom Leia did not want. But she smiled softly, something like— understanding? Whatever it was she feeling or thinking, Leia's soft smile remained where it was, and she took Han's hand in hers, tenderly held onto it.

"Why don't you hang onto that thought for now. Tuck it away for safekeeping. I am going to that appointment and coming back fully protected. But I'm willing to keep discussions open."

It wasn't like Leia to make hefty promises just anytime, so Han took her offer for the gold it was worth and decided he could hang onto that for some time. He knew Leia was likely to never change her mind. But he also knew she was just as likely to share in his deepest desire to have a family of their own, to give the free galaxy they had fought so hard for to their very own children. However it ended, Han knew he could live without children, that he was guaranteed a beautiful future with just Leia, with many happy years to come.

But something told him that, perhaps, Leia had her own doubts as he once had. Perhaps, he hadn't imagined that twinkle in her eyes when that representative from Chandrila had brought her new baby to that gala months ago and— to Leia's surprise— suddenly deposited the newborn in Leia's arms. Perhaps, he wasn't imagining it whenever the passed down a sidewalk and Leia's gaze lingered on that couple with the baby across the street for just a moment too long. Leia was more than entitled to whatever fears or qualms she may be carrying, but Han couldn't help the feeling that she understood why he wanted a family— maybe even had reasons of her own.

Until then, however, Han was smart enough to know when a conversation was over. He nodded, giving Leia's hand a squeeze before she could slip away. He pulled her closer just to tell her, "I love you, Princess. You're more than enough for me."

She smiled. "You're enough of a kid for me." Then, she quickly tugged herself free of his grasp, disappearing down the hall as Han jumped from his seat, her sweet laughter both filling his heart and leaving him aching for more.


End file.
